2012-02-25, 00:43
Hi there!
I'm looking for a new solution to play my media files. I'm currently using a PS3 (the old "fat" one) but due to it's limited playback and network access capabilities and it's damn loud fan I decided to finally seek a better solution.
So I took some time to choose various combinations and read articles and forum threads about that hardware and so on. But I'm still somewhat unsure about what is really necessary to meet my requirements and I don't want to spend to much on the system or - even worse - end up with a system that is to slow or can't be used due to the lack of driver support or something.
It would be nice, if you could take a look on these configuration and tell me your opinion. This is what the system should be able to do:
- Capable of playing 1080p aka FullHD movies encoded with h264 even with higher bitrates (~ 20 Mbps)
- Capable of playing BluRay images (not re-encoded, ~ 50 Mbps)
- Smooth playback - no judder during camera movement (framerate issues) or stuttering on fast scenes (high bitrate)
My TV and AV-Receiver can handle 24p (23.976 fps)
- Digital multi-channel audio (DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS HD, Dolby TrueHD) output (HDMI preferred, optical/koax would be ok)
My AV-Receiver can handle all these formats including HD audio as bitstream, so the HTPC just have to pass it through right?
- Internal WiFi connection (802.3n)
All the content will be stored on a dedicated NAS, which is actually just a PC running arch linux
If it turns out that WiFi is too slow for these high bitrates Gigabit LAN is also available
- 3D capability would be nice to have on the hardware side but is not needed at the moment
=> Would be classified as Group #6 / Group #7 according to this thread.
- I want to use XBMC on Linux, to be more precise OpenELEC, for this HTPC
This seems the best solution for an dedicated HTPC to me, because it hides the PC-like things and present a media-player like experience. Besides it looks like an actively developed/maintained project to me. Maybe i will use Windows 7 on a secondary system, but this is not a requirement.
So this is what i came up with:
This system was my first idea. It would be very slim, no PCIe cards or additional stuff needed and it is not so expensive.
But I read some posts about the Llano platform and Linux which is, according to their authors, not a very good combination. What is the current situation like, especially with OpenELEC? I'm sure that the CPU itself won't encode the videos smoothly enough and the GPU facilities for h264 encoding are needed, so driver support would be an important thing.
This is a different approach. I heard that Intel and nVidia are more Linux-friendly. But then I read about a 24p hardware bug on the Sandy Bridge platform, that sounds very unpleasant to me, especially for a HTPC build. Could this be fixed by adding a dedicated video card? Would something like the GT 520 be sufficient for the mentioned tasks? I think the GTX 560 would be way to oversized and only has better gaming capabilities that I don't really need on that PC.
Do you have some recommendations, especially for the use of a linux-based system like OpenELEC? Or would yo recommend forgetting about OpenELEC and use Windows 7 (and for what reason)?
Something you would change in these configurations? Which of them will be suited best? ... or should I buy something completely different?
Thanks!
I'm looking for a new solution to play my media files. I'm currently using a PS3 (the old "fat" one) but due to it's limited playback and network access capabilities and it's damn loud fan I decided to finally seek a better solution.
So I took some time to choose various combinations and read articles and forum threads about that hardware and so on. But I'm still somewhat unsure about what is really necessary to meet my requirements and I don't want to spend to much on the system or - even worse - end up with a system that is to slow or can't be used due to the lack of driver support or something.
It would be nice, if you could take a look on these configuration and tell me your opinion. This is what the system should be able to do:
- Capable of playing 1080p aka FullHD movies encoded with h264 even with higher bitrates (~ 20 Mbps)
- Capable of playing BluRay images (not re-encoded, ~ 50 Mbps)
- Smooth playback - no judder during camera movement (framerate issues) or stuttering on fast scenes (high bitrate)
My TV and AV-Receiver can handle 24p (23.976 fps)
- Digital multi-channel audio (DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS HD, Dolby TrueHD) output (HDMI preferred, optical/koax would be ok)
My AV-Receiver can handle all these formats including HD audio as bitstream, so the HTPC just have to pass it through right?
- Internal WiFi connection (802.3n)
All the content will be stored on a dedicated NAS, which is actually just a PC running arch linux
If it turns out that WiFi is too slow for these high bitrates Gigabit LAN is also available
- 3D capability would be nice to have on the hardware side but is not needed at the moment
=> Would be classified as Group #6 / Group #7 according to this thread.
- I want to use XBMC on Linux, to be more precise OpenELEC, for this HTPC
This seems the best solution for an dedicated HTPC to me, because it hides the PC-like things and present a media-player like experience. Besides it looks like an actively developed/maintained project to me. Maybe i will use Windows 7 on a secondary system, but this is not a requirement.
So this is what i came up with:
Code:
Board ASUS F1A75-I Deluxe 118 €
CPU AMD A8-3870K 120 €
RAM AMD Memory 8 GB DDR3-1600 (Kit) 40 €
Disk Intel 320series 2,5" SSD 40 GB 83 €
Graphic INCLUDED IN CPU - €
=====
Total (including 220 € for Case, Cooling and Power) 583 € (~ 770 USD)This system was my first idea. It would be very slim, no PCIe cards or additional stuff needed and it is not so expensive.
But I read some posts about the Llano platform and Linux which is, according to their authors, not a very good combination. What is the current situation like, especially with OpenELEC? I'm sure that the CPU itself won't encode the videos smoothly enough and the GPU facilities for h264 encoding are needed, so driver support would be an important thing.
Code:
Board ASUS P8H67-I DELUXE 140 €
CPU Intel Core i3-2120 108 €
RAM 2x Kingston ValueRAM 4 GB DDR3-1333 44 €
Disk Intel 320series 2,5" SSD 40 GB 83 €
Graphic INCLUDED IN CPU - €
=====
Total (including 220 € for Case, Cooling and Power) 595 € (~ 800 USD)
-or-
Graphic EVGA GeForce GT 520 passiv 43 €
=====
Total (including 220 € for Case, Cooling and Power) 638 € (~ 850 USD)
-or-
Graphic EVGA GeForce GTX 560 SuperClocked 168 €
=====
Total (including 220 € for Case, Cooling and Power) 768 € (~ 1,000 USD)This is a different approach. I heard that Intel and nVidia are more Linux-friendly. But then I read about a 24p hardware bug on the Sandy Bridge platform, that sounds very unpleasant to me, especially for a HTPC build. Could this be fixed by adding a dedicated video card? Would something like the GT 520 be sufficient for the mentioned tasks? I think the GTX 560 would be way to oversized and only has better gaming capabilities that I don't really need on that PC.
Do you have some recommendations, especially for the use of a linux-based system like OpenELEC? Or would yo recommend forgetting about OpenELEC and use Windows 7 (and for what reason)?
Something you would change in these configurations? Which of them will be suited best? ... or should I buy something completely different?
Thanks!
